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Saskatoon Blades
| owner = Mike Priestner | GM = Colin Priestner | coach = Dean Brockman | website = www.saskatoonblades.com }} The Saskatoon Blades are a junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Division of the Western Hockey League. They are based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, playing at the 15,195 seat Credit Union Centre. History The Saskatoon Blades were originally founded in 1964 as a team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and transferred leagues in 1966–67 with the foundation of the Western Hockey League. They are the only team remaining in the league from the WHL's foundation still in their original city (the Regina Pats are also still around, but they dropped out of the WHL for a few seasons early on to go back to the SJHL). The Blades spent many seasons at the old Saskatoon Arena where they built up a strong fanbase and developed many top players. In 1988, they moved to what was then known as Saskatchewan Place (now Credit Union Centre) and hosted the Memorial Cup tournament in May, 1989, where they finished the round robin with a 5–4 victory over the Swift Current Broncos who had a 14 game undefeated streak, which consisted of sweeping through the WHL playoffs and winning their 1st two round robin games. However, the Blades lost in overtime in the Memorial Cup Final to the Broncos. They also lost in the WHL league finals in 1992 and 1994 to the Kamloops Blazers in seven games. The Blades have never won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, and currently have the longest championship drought in the Canadian Hockey League. The Blades are currently owned by the Brodsky Family. They have been a huge success at the gate. Throughout their existence, the team has had a fierce rivalry with both the Regina Pats and the Prince Albert Raiders. As many of the players are still in their mid-teens, Marion M. Graham Collegiate plays host to many of the players, due to the short distance. In the 2008–09 Season, the Saskatoon Blades made history by tying a WHL record for most road wins in a single season (28) with the 1999–00 Calgary Hitmen. In that season, the Blades went on to win their first East Division Championship since 1994. NHL alumni Bernie Federko is the only former Blade in the Hockey Hall of Fame. *Dennis Abgrall *Brent Ashton *Blair Atcheynum *Frank Banham *Wade Belak *Ryan Bonni *Bob Bourne *Dave Brown *Murray Brumwell *Jeff Buchanan *Lindsay Carson *Blair Chapman *Kelly Chase *Rich Chernomaz *Tim Cheveldae *Wendel Clark *Pat Conacher *Barry Cummins *Larry DePalma *Bruce Eakin *Jerry Engele *Martin Erat *Garnet Exelby *'Bernie Federko' *Perry Ganchar *Michael Garnett *Randy Gilhen *Brian Glynn *Lee Goren *Mike Green *Mike Greenlay *Marc Habscheid *Bill Hajt *Neil Hawryliw *Dale Henry *Bob Hoffmeyer *Bill Hogaboam *Gerry Hogue *Doug Horbul *Darcy Hordichuk *Randy Ireland *Grant Jennings *Terry Johnson *Kevin Kaminski *Dean Kennedy *Orest Kindrachuk *Ralph Klassen *Joe Kocur *Roger Kortko *Don Kozak *Dave Kryskow *Lane Lambert *James Latos *Kirby Law *Grant Ledyard *Curtis Leschyshyn *Dave Lewis *Ron Loustel *Steve MacIntyre *Keith Magnuson *Norm Maracle *Richard Matvichuk *Chris McAllister *Brad McCrimmon *Todd McLellan *Jim McTaggart *Bill Oleschuk *Dave Parro *George Pesut *Warren Peters *Gerry Pinder *Pat Price *Terry Ruskowski *Larry Sacharuk *Don Saleski *Terran Sandwith *Cory Sarich *Bobby Schmautz *Scott Scissons *Devin Setoguchi *Brent Severyn *Todd Simpson *Brian Skrudland *Randy Smith *Martin Sonnenberg *Brent Sopel *Lee Sorochan *Daryl Stanley *David Struch *Todd Strueby *Ken Sutton *Ryan Tobler *Rocky Trottier *Tony Twist *Shaun Van Allen *Russ Walker *Rhett Warrener *Fred Williams *Clarke Wilm *Mark Wotton *Trent Yawney Retired numbers *7 Gerry Pinder *7 Brent Ashton *10 Brian Skrudland *15 Bob Bourne *22 Wendel Clark *24 Bernie Federko Coaches *Burns McDonald 1964–65 *George Agar 1964–65 to 1969–70 *George Senick 1969–70* *Jackie McLeod 1970–71 to 1978–79 *Jerry Engele 1979–80 *Lorne Frey 1980–81 *Daryl Lubiniecki 1981–82 to 1983–84 *Marcel Comeau 1984–85 to 1988–89 *Terry Ruskowski 1989–90 to 1990–91 *Lorne Molleken – 1991–92 to 1994–95 *Donn Clark – 1995–96 to 1997–98 *Willie Desjardins – 1998* *Brad McCrimmon – 1998–99 to 1999–2000 *Kevin Dickie – 2000–01 to 2003–04 *Jamie Reeve – 2003–04* *Lorne Molleken – 2004–05 to 2012-13 *Dave Struch – 2013-14 *Bob Woods - 2014-15 to present *interm (regular head coach fired, sick or suspended) Season-by-season record Team records References External links *Blades official web site *Saskatoon Blades News Coverage (The Star Phoenix) Category:Canadian ice hockey teams Category:Western Hockey League (junior) team Category:Established in 1964